


Followers of Blue

by strikerflynnmr



Series: Tumblr Prompts [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-04 21:55:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15156416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strikerflynnmr/pseuds/strikerflynnmr
Summary: Anonymous asked: "Flirty Lance with space babes while Keith is sadly pining?"This work takes place before the beginning of season four.





	Followers of Blue

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous asked: "Flirty Lance with space babes while Keith is sadly pining?"  
> This work takes place before the beginning of season four.

They’re called the Followers of Blue, Lance’s fan club, and Keith can’t even think their name without being sarcastic about it. There’s Belshie, with her bubbly, high-pitched, annoying giggles—Prismi, who agrees with everything Lance says and keeps trying to touch his hair—and Loq the idiot, a buff dude who says almost nothing but never takes his eyes off Lance.

How long is this going to take? Keith tried, towards the beginning, to speed things up when conversations dragged towards  _Oh, Mr. Paladin— Call me Lance— Heeheehee!! Okay Mr. Lance, don’t you want to see this shiny thing over here, isn’t it so homey, doesn’t it make you want to just stay forever heeheehee!!_

Vomit.

He’s given up. Lance is going to be Lance, and since it’s just the two of them on this mission (well, just the two  _paladins_ ), and since Keith doesn’t have the energy to fight Lance on every front, he’s going to keep quiet and hope it’ll be over soon.

“And this is the temple,” Belshie says grandly, arms sweeping wide as everyone enters. “We worship all sorts of gods here. Maybe one day we’ll add an idol in  _your_  honor.”

VOMIT.

“I don’t like to brag,” says Lance, rolling his shoulders in a way that, probably, he thinks will make himself look macho. And  _she_  giggles. “But if this whole saving the universe thing works out, I wouldn’t say it’s off the table.”

“That’s not how gods work,” Keith bites out. The Followers of Blue jump a little. Or, not jump, but they tense, and pause, and wonder if they can get away with not acknowledging him. Lance is oblivious as ever, checking out a statue that reaches nearly to the dome-style ceiling and asking, “Who’s that buff dude?” so the conversation continues on like Keith was never there.

“Heeheeheehee, that is our god of love!”

“Really?” Lance grunts, surprised. “No goddess?”

“Mr. Lance!” Prismi interjects, boldly stepping right in front of him, cupping the back of his head with both her hands. “Did you know that a kiss under the statue of the god of love will bring you good luck?”

Lance looks surprised but ready to go with it, and a spike of acid-like anger puts Keith on the precipice of interfering again, but, surprisingly, the other members of the fan club beat him to it.

“We should get going!” Belshie announces shrilly, as Loq shouts in his throaty voice, “PRISMI, YOU ARE BLEEDING!” even though she clearly isn’t.

As stunned silence prevails, and everyone (except Lance) sees that a situation was successfully diverted, Loq adds a bashful, “My mistake.”

“Um,” Lance says, blinking slowly, “Okay. Well, we should probably—”

Keith starts ringing.

Well, his scancomm does, so he ignores the aftershocks of their original startled looks and all but runs to the temple door for some privacy. And it’s a comm request that he isn’t expecting, the one he finds. He shoots a glance back at the fan club circling in on Lance like a pack of lovestruck vultures, understands that his absence will not be noticed, and exits the temple completely. Illoyi is a beautiful planet full of gardens and bright sunlight, but right now it feels vapid and unpleasant.

(Okay. So. It isn’t that he hates the fan club and is angry at Lance. But he hates the fan club and he’s angry at Lance. Keith  _hates_  being here, forced to suffer silently through this fucking  _spectacle_ , because it’s not like he can say anything to anyone or confront Lance and make a scene because—well, then it’s all just crap. They have to save the universe, and Keith’s weird emotional vortex of feelings when it comes to Lance would only put a strain on the team, so he can’t let it loose. He has to just. Sit on it.)

He accepts the call on the scancomm. It’s Kolivan, looking as stern as ever.

“Keith,” he says. “You’ve been ignoring my calls.”

“I’m sorry. There’s been a lot going on,” Keith lies. The truth is he hasn’t wanted to face this conversation. Contrary to popular belief, Keith is not fearless; he’s a huge coward when it comes to things that should be easy, like conversations or making decisions. Fighting is easy because everything you need to know is right in front of your eyes. It isn’t like that with people.

“Have you given thought to my offer?”

Keith pauses. It’s a tell.

“Yes,” he hedges. Kolivan looks displeased, like he can see straight through to the crux of the issue: Keith has thought and thought and thought, but he’s no closer to satisfying a decision.

“This is no privilege offered to all,” he informs Keith, frowning, “and if you accept, you must be fully committed. There can be no self-doubt without risk of death or dishonor.”

“I have my duties here,” Keith says, his usual excuse. “I want to help the Blade personally, but I don’t know how to do both.”

“You know where our organization resides and have a means to access it. We will train you to your schedule, but you cannot expect us to call on you until you become available to us.”

“No! I mean, yes. I know. I’m just—”

“I know what you are, Keith. And we have discussed this enough. I’m getting impatient. Will you join our ranks? You have potential. Now you are intimidated by the idea, but there is a great leader inside you. Training with your kin is sure to bring forth your true self. Is that not what you have always wanted?”

It rips Keith vulnerable just in time for a sharp  _Heeheehee_  to carry on the sickly-sweet, flower-scented wind. He winces. His heart snaps. Or something snaps in place. Maybe it’s like a bone that has to be broken twice to heal properly. Either way, it’s painful. 

And it gives him direction. When the universe hands you something so obvious, you don’t call it a coincidence.

Keith has to get out of here. Things aren’t in his control. He isn’t happier with the team than he might be somewhere else. He never belonged on Earth and that wasn’t going to change just because Earth suddenly needed his protection. But there  _is_  a place where he  _does_  have ties he could explore, a place that’s seeking  _him_  out instead of the other way around.

“Yeah,” Keith says hoarsely. “It is.”

“Then, do I have your answer?”

It’s scary, but Keith thinks so.

“Hey, man! What are you doing out here?” Suddenly, there’s Lance, poking his head out from behind the temple door, looking slightly harrowed. “We, uh, we gotta get going.”

Keith spares him an eye roll. “Yeah, sorry for how much I’ve been holding up the mission.” He turns back to his scancomm and says, “Expect me in the next few quintants.” Then he hangs up, feeling too warm all over.

Lance frowns as Keith stuffed the scancomm out of sight. “Who was that?”

“Thought we had to get moving,” says Keith. “Where’s your  _band of admirers_?”

“Whoa, dude, are you alright?”

As if this is the first moment Lance has clued in that Keith isn’t his usual rainbows and sunshine self.

“Listen,” Lance continues, “I know you must have a lot on your mind, with Shiro and being leader and stuff, and you probably feel antsy being on some rinky-dink planet when there’s always something more important, but… you should really lighten up. Nothing like a little praise from civilians to cheer you up! Come talk to Prismi, she’s so friendly—”

“Enough!” says Keith, throwing off the hand Lance tried to brace on his shoulder. He’s so hurt, so angry, and he can’t say the reason for  _any_  of it. (And he’s not sure, if he could, that he  _would_.) “We came here to get information, not flirt with the locals. Can’t you take anything seriously?”

Lance takes a step back, blinking. “Whoa.” He glances over his shoulder, back into the temple, like maybe he’s hoping his entourage will jump to his defense. “What got you all mad?”

“You’re wasting everyone’s time and acting unprofessional.”

“What, so I’m not allowed to enjoy myself now? It has to be all work all the time?”

“The Galra aren’t—”

“No, don’t interrupt me!” Lance shouts, hands balling into fists. “Just because you’re some soulless machine with a holier-than-thou complex when it comes to any of us having anything nice for ourselves doesn’t mean you have any right to ruin something that makes me happy! You always do that, pulling the  _save the universe_  card and acting like you’re right just because you don’t like something!”

Keith sneers, unwilling to acknowledge most of that. “You don’t even like any of them. Do you?”

“You don’t know…” Lance protests, but it dies weakly. Keith raises his eyebrows.

“Really?” he asks, slinging venom, challenging Lance. “ _Loq_? You’re interested in him?”

Lance flinches, wide-eyed, like Keith slapped him. His mouth twitches in a semblance of senseless word-formation but ultimately settles on a stricken  _O_.

“That’s what I thought,” says Keith, and, to honor the ancient god of spite, shoves past Lance on his way back into the temple. Inside are the Followers of Blue, their mouths equally agape as their idol’s, clearly having eavesdropped on everything. Keith addresses them with contempt. “Have fun worshipping your precious paladin savior, but don’t expect him to think fast in a fight. I’ll pick him up when I’m done saving your planet. Which way to your hall of records?”

Belshie looks the most taken aback, but she also clearly has  _You’re not wanted_  written in her eyes, so she says, “Up the street. It’s the white building with pillars and purple ivy.”

Without a word, Keith leaves.

“Keith! Wait!”

“Don’t follow me,” Keith growls, and as he storms off, he acts as though he can’t hear Lance continuing to call after him.

And Lance doesn’t follow.

Keith isn’t sure how much he wanted Lance to disregard the order, but it doesn’t matter. He’s walking forward alone with his head held high. And even if it hurts like thorns in his ribcage now, he’ll get over it. He has a path now.

He’s going to find and become himself. He’s going to join the Blade of Marmora.


End file.
